Floating Top Table

I want to start by saying this is my first Floater, I have been leaning towards this style for awhile now. This was commissioned by my Daughter well I was nagged til I finally made her one for school work and Art.

It is 47” x 24.5” x 33” (LxWxH). Top is made from Maple and Bloodwood.Skirt is Maple and CherryLegs are Cherry with a Bloodwood cap.

Legs are 1.75” square and tapered to 7/8” on all four sides starting @ 8” from the top.The top is finished with Wipe on Poly. The rest will need to be finished later maybe this summer when the daughter doesn’t need it.

I want to make a drafting style table and may use this table for testing my design out. For now it is functional and my Daughter is happy.

I’d consider this a great first piece of this kind. I have been drawing up several as well, trying to think about the various aspects of design, shape, strength, wood selection, etc.

One thing you may want to at least consider if you do another top with the intersecting stripes is something called “the rule of thirds.” It’s used extensively in photography, for instance. Basically, take your top and draw an imaginative tic-tac-toe board on it. Normally in photography, you might place your subject matter at one of the intersecting points, of which there are 4, where a vertical line meets a horizontal line. If you were doing an inlay, you might want to place it at one of the four points. However, in your situation, you would simply only “draw” one vertical and one horizontal line as you’ve done on this piece with your contrasting wood, but would then have naturally proportionate spacing.

Sorry, it’s not the greatest explanation. Maybe another way would be to say that if you were to take your tabletop and actually draw an evenly spaced tic-tac-toe board on your top, but only put the bloodwood where one vertical and one horizontal line are at, then erase the other 2-lines. Your bloodwood lines would then intersect at one of the 4-points.

If you do another floater, I’ll be anxious to see where that design takes you and how it evolves from this one.

-- Jonathan, Denver, CO "Constructive criticism is welcome and valued as it gives me new perspectives and helps me to advance as a woodworker."

Jonathan,I see where you are coming from and how far off my lines are, I appreciate the input. I am in the middle of designing another one, this time with darker wood and light strips in it. I need this one to be perfect since it will be for a customer, so I am taking my time with the design.